loving you is cherry pie
by singsongsung
Summary: N-JBC. Snippets of their shared childhood, from cupcakes to Christmas and everything in between.


**A/N: **I want N-JBC flashbacks, and since the show won't give them to me, apparently I have to write them myself. These will be short and sweet and most likely chronological, snippets into their shared childhood. Reviews are lovely, and I'm open to suggestions. :)

**loving you is cherry pie**

_cupcakes _

_(Blair; age 5)_

_----_

The summer sun beats down on them, sitting out on the back deck of Serena's family's old home in the Hamptons, under bright blue, cloudless sky. Blair is sitting on the wooden planks that make up the large deck, the skirt of her dress draped lightly over her leg, holding a cupcake in her hands. It's got pink frosting and sprinkles and she thinks it's too pretty to eat, but she gives in and takes a bite anyway.

Nearby, Chuck is standing in neatly pressed shorts and a purple t-shirt that's just a shade off the lilac colour of her dress. He's squinting into the distance, toying with his sunglasses, as if trying to decide whether he looks better with them on or off.

Nate rushes by him, elbowing his best friend playfully and flashing a one-hundred-watt grin before hurrying over to Serena and flopping down beside her.

"Are you ready?"

"No, Natie, wait!" Serena cries, scrambling to sit next to him. They look similar in the late-afternoon light, in their rumpled shorts and pale blue shirts, blonde hair glowing in the sun. Sitting cross-legged, across from one another, knees pressed against each other's and heads bent close, they look they belong to some sort of exclusive club that only they will ever belong to.

Blair pops the last bite of her cupcake into her mouth, glancing over at Chuck – who has taken off his sunglasses yet again – before swivelling her body toward her other friends. "What are you guys _doing_?" She asks, holding her hands away from her dress; they're sticky.

"Contest," Nate tells her, still grinning. "Wanna play?"

"Whoever can lick all the frosting off first wins," Serena adds, her blue eyes sparkling. Her hair is curly, falling around her face, framing her dimpled cheeks.

Blair wrinkles her nose. "No, thank you."

Serena and Nate exchange smiles; they knew she'd say that.

"Ready now?" he asks, as Chuck wanders a bit closer to observe what they're doing. Glancing up at his friend, he continues, "Will you be the judge? Serena cheats."

"I do not!" she responds, aghast, eyes fixed on his face. "_Blair_ always cheats, and Blair's not playing."

Chuck isn't fooled. "You and Blair cheat _together_," he tells her firmly. The girls exchange a private look; Blair presses her lips together to quell her smile and Serena bites back the threat of a grin. It's true, they do always cheat, because Blair is clever enough to think schemes up and Serena is daring enough to pull them off – but the boys always _let _them.

"Here," Serena huffs, reaching out to sticking her index finger onto the frosting on Nate's cupcake, licking it off her finger afterward. "Now you have a head start."

"I don't _need_ a head start," he protests, a whine slipping into his words as he pouts at her.

She grins, that winning smile that always makes Nate blink an extra time or two. "We'll see," she says breezily.

Chuck drops down to sit next to Blair, sunglasses sliding down his nose, and hands her a handkerchief from his pocket for her sticky hands. She shoots him a surprised smile of gratitude as she examines it, crisp and white, _C.B._embroidered in the lower right-hand corner. She could give it to Nate and Serena, who could probably use it more since they're much messier, but she can envision the cutely confused looks they'd both give her, so she chooses to use it herself. She likes the way it looks, his first initial next to hers, neatly embroidered in deep purple like they fit together.

Hearing squealing, she looks up dazedly to see Nate and Serena laughing, hands pressed to their mouths. Serena sets her cupcake down and pushes lightly at Nate's arm, her hand lingering against his tanned skin, and Blair feels herself frowning lightly. They're always _touching_ each other.

"Who won?" she asks Chuck, speaking quietly. He's watching them from behind his sunglasses, looking mildly, tolerantly amused.

"Serena," he admits, almost apologetically.

"I gave you a head start and everything," she says to Nate, and it would be gloating if her words didn't sound so sweet.

"I'll win the next one," he insists, like some kind of promise.

"What's the next one?" Chuck asks warily while Blair begs, "Please, not right now, I can't _watch_ that."

"So _don't_," Nate shoots back with that kind of disarming charm he's always possessed; even at five years old the look he gives her make Blair's cheeks heat up. But then Serena's hand is on his wrist, touching him again, pulling his attention back to her.

She sighs as the blondes giggle about something, talking quietly, turning her attention back to Chuck, who is contemplating the sunglasses situation once again.

"Off," she tells him softly, firmly. "Leave them off."

When he meets her eyes, she nods knowingly, assuring him, and he smirks because he knows it's her version of _thank you_ for the handkerchief.

Glancing back at Serena and Nate, her kind expression twists into a horrified grimace as they stuff entire cupcakes into their mouths and then open wide, cheeks red and laughter evident in their matching blue eyes. Without really meaning to, Blair curls into Chuck to hide her eyes from the display of half-chewed cupcake she's witnessing, crying, "Ew! _Ew_, you guys!"

They close their mouths and chew, giggles escaping their lips as she straightens up once again, wrinkling her nose.

"That was so gross," Nate declares delightedly, and Serena sticks her blue-icing-coated tongue out at him. He looks at her appreciatively, fingers lingering in between them, dancing on her anklebone and up her calf.

"That's _it_, Nate," Blair declares regally, disgusted. "You don't get to marry me anymore."

His eyes widen the slightest bit. "So who're you gonna marry then?" he asks, a little bit put out.

Blair wracks her mind, brown eyes flicking over to the boy she sits next to. "Chuck," she shrugs, looking at Nate defiantly. "I'll marry Chuck."

Chuck frowns. "Will not."

Her eyes flash at him. "Will _too_," she says, dangerously.

"Who'm I supposed to marry, then?" Nate demands. He's never really bothered with Blair and her plans for the future, but it's throwing him off, the way she's snatched them away so suddenly.

Serena interrupts, throwing long arms around Nate's neck. "You can marry me, Natie," she says, so easily that Blair's momentarily taken aback as she watches Serena kiss Nate's cheek. He pulls back from her, startled, but then takes in her blue-stained lips and optimistic eyes and smiles right back, nodding.

He turns to Blair. "I'm marrying Serena."

"I _heard_," she snaps, glaring. "And I'm marrying Chuck, so that's _fine_."

"I never said I'd marry you," Chuck protests once again, giving her a stern look, his eyes bright with panic.

Stung by his reaction, Blair drops his handkerchief back in his lap and inches away from him, staring out at the lawn. They settle into silence for a few minutes, Blair and Chuck sitting apart, Nate and Serena leaning against one another.

"What would you do if you were president?" Chuck asks out of the blue, his words directed at Nate, clearly anxious to leave the previous topic behind.

Nate shrugs, careful not to disturb Serena, who's resting her head against his shoulder. "Make soccer a class in school."

"There's already gym, silly," Serena giggles, her words lazy as she peers up at him through her eyelashes.

"And you, S.?" Chuck questions. "What would you do?"

Serena smiles brightly at him, well-aware that she's about to give an answer he doesn't want to hear. "Make a day just to eat cupcakes."

Blair rolls her brown eyes skyward as Chuck sighs. She can't listen to this without jumping in, even if she _is_ angry with Chuck. "_I_ would make myself queen." Her hand drifts up to touch her headband. "I'd have a crown. Everyone would listen to me."

Nate shakes his head, but Chuck turns to look at her slowly. His chin tilts downward in a small nod of acknowledgment as he studies her. "Maybe," he finally says. "Maybe we could get married."

She wants to smile, but instead she tosses her shiny brown hair over her shoulder dismissively. "No, I'm marrying Nate again."

Serena straightens up. "You are?"

Blair looks down as she nods. "I was just mad before. I'm always going to marry Nate. Right?" she asks, glancing up, looking at him for confirmation.

Nate shrugs, almost sheepishly. "If you're queen, am I king?" he asks, as if that's the deal-breaker.

She thinks about saying yes, but the thing is, he's _not_. Nate wants to play soccer all day and maybe eat cupcakes, not wear a crown and tell people what to do. For a minute she considers it, but then she just looks up and shrugs back and smiles at him, and all four of them can feel the shift in the air, things moving back to how they were before, but there is a change as well, something that they will ignore valiantly for as long as they can.

"So…" Nate says lightly, bumping his shoulder against Serena's.

Chuck picks up his best friend's thought: "Who gets…"

"The last…" Blair murmurs.

"Cupcake?" Serena supplies, finishing the question, glancing up at her friends with trusting eyes.

At the exact same moment, in perfect unison, the four of them say: "You can have it," none of them entirely sure of who they're speaking to.

It makes a smirk sneak onto Chuck's lips and Serena's giggle relaxes the atmosphere as Nate smiles and Blair sighs, reaching forward to delicately pick it up. As carefully and precisely as her bare hands will allow, she splits it into four almost-equal parts, setting them back down on the tray to let her friends pick.

"No, you first, B.," Serena pipes up; Nate and Chuck nod in agreement immediately. Blair nods as well, smile still in place, and picks first, followed by her friends.

They watch the sunset together, legs dangling off the deck, toes just barely brushing blades of grass. It is comfortable and natural; no matter what has changed and what will change, they are friends first. The girls sit between the boys as they so often do, and Nate and Serena play footsie, kicking at each other's bare feet – touching, always – while Chuck hands Blair back his handkerchief as she finishes off her treat. Her fingers slide over his initials – _their_ initials, if she wants to think of it that way – as she takes in the sight of the sky, pink and blue like cupcake frosting.

No matter what changes, she figures, they love each other best.


End file.
